A new era in aviation security began this morning when hundreds of select travelers at Orlando International Airport were screened by machines designed to let passengers keep their shoes on through airport checkpoints. But the machines didn't always work as travelers expected. Many people who spent a minute or so standing on a brand-new ShoeScanner before getting to a checkpoint had to remove their shoes anyway and put them through checkpoint X-rays because the ShoeScanner found metal in their footwear. ShoeScanners, which are planned for four other airports in coming weeks, can detect only explosives. "It's a waste of time," Tracey Grenkoski of Orlando said after spending more than a minute on a ShoeScanner only to be told she had to remove her high-heeled shoes at the checkpoint. "What's the point of me standing there if I still have to take my shoes off?" Grenkoski had plenty of company. Of 50 travelers who used the ShoeScanner in a one-hour period this morning in Orlando, 28 ... http://www.usatoday.com

Winter had most of the United States in its grip on Tuesday, with 500,000 homes and businesses still lacking electricity in the Midwest and Northeast, while the Northwest experienced another blast of snow and California reported that nearly its entire citrus crop was wiped out by a freeze. In the Northeast, power lines were down, highways were treacherous and spring-like temperatures were only a memory in the wake of the storm that earlier had plastered the Midwest and Plains with a heavy shell of ice. The death toll from the storm was at least 42 in seven states. The weight of the ice snapped tree limbs, shorted out transformers and made power lines sag, knocking out current to about 145,000 customers in New York state and New Hampshire on Monday, though many got power restored during the night. Scores of schools canceled classes or opened late Tuesday in New Hampshire and upstate New York. And in Texas, ...http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16634187/

Rising temperatures are allowing Southern trees to thrive farther north and stressing trees used to colder weather, according to new national guidelines issued by planting experts. The National Arbor Day Foundation last month updated the Agriculture Department's "hardiness zones" map, which was last issued in 1990. The group acted after noticing that some tree species were thriving where they had not before, while others were doing poorly in what had been a suitable region on previous maps. The shift in zones may allow people in northern areas to experiment with flowering Southern trees such as apple and cherry where they used to plant only fir, spruce and pine, says group spokesman Woodrow Nelson. The map divides the nation into 11 planting zones tied to average low temperatures. It shows significant boundary changes as the continent has warmed. For example, in southern Texas, the edge of one zone moved more than 200 miles north to the Panhandle. A few locations jumped two zones....http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2007-01-15-weather-trees_x.htm?csp=34

The suspect in the kidnapping of two Missouri boys will make his first court appearance on Thursday morning, authorities said. Michael J. Devlin, 41, is expected to plead not guilty to a single felony count of kidnapping. He is being held in lieu of $1 million bail. The 41-year-old pizzeria manager in suburban St. Louis betrayed few clues about a possible secret life as a kidnapper, say people who know him. Police say Devlin -- called "Devo" by friends -- abducted two boys, holding one for four years. Authorities found William "Ben" Ownby, 13, and Shawn Hornbeck, 15, on Friday in Devlin's apartment in Kirkwood, a suburb of St. Louis. "He was a fine tenant, he paid his rent on time, he was always pleasant to me," said Bill Romer, Devlin's landlord. ...http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/01/16/neighbors.missouri/index.html?eref=rss_us

Scores of people were killed in Baghdad on Tuesday in bombing and shooting incidents, most of them in neighborhoods where the militia of a powerful anti-American Shiite cleric holds sway. A suicide bomber and a car bomb killed at least 65 people and wounded 138 more at entrances to a once-prestigious university in Baghdad. The strike at Mustansiriya University was a dual bomb attack: The suicide bomber detonated a vest at the back entrance of the school, and a parked car exploded at the main gate under a pedestrian bridge where students and employees get public transit. A CNN producer near the scene said police sealed off the area and there were armed members of the Mehdi Army -- the militia under the control of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr -- on the street....http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/16/iraq.main/index.html?eref=rss_world

The Israelis and Syrians have held secret talks about a peace deal, a former Israeli diplomat has said. Dr Alon Liel said the meetings were arranged in a private capacity, and Israeli sources said the talks were not officially sanctioned by Israel. Israel's Haaretz daily says a series of agreements were reached, including an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in 1967. But the talks apparently collapsed with Israel's war in Lebanon last year. According to the paper, Israeli and Syrian representatives met secretly in Europe several times between September 2004 and July 2006. In exchange for a full Israeli pull-out from Golan Heights, captured in the Six Day War 30 years ago, Syria would end support for anti-Israel militant groups. But Dr Liel stressed to the BBC that the representatives were operating privately and were not aiming at a final agreement, but a framework. ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6267117.stm